1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to telecommunications and data networks. More particularly but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to addressing and accessing high-speed interface converter devices, such as Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC) devices, in a data network switching system.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is becoming increasingly important to allow enterprises to connect to high-speed data networks. These data networks include switching systems that are generally described based on the capabilities of their transmission speeds. For example, “mega” switching systems transfer millions of bits per second, while “gigs” switching systems transfer gigabits per second. Gigabit capability is designed for Internet switches and routers that provide backbone connection service for Internet service providers and enterprise networks.
The Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC) specification (revision 5.5, Sep. 27, 2000) was developed by a group of electronics manufacturers in order to arrive at a standard small form factor transceiver for use with a wide variety of serial transmission media and connectors. The GBIC specification defines the electronic, electrical, and physical interface of a removable serial transceiver designed to operate at gigabit speeds. A GBIC provides a small form factor pluggable device that may be inserted and removed from a host or switch chassis without powering off the receiving socket. The GBIC standard allows a single standard interface to be changed from a first serial medium to an alternate serial medium by simply removing a first GBIC device and plugging in a second GBIC device having the desired alternate media interface. For instance, a GBIC device can convert an electrical signal to an optical signal for transmission through a fiber medium.
In recent years, industry has continued to develop smaller form factors and advances in technology for these transceiver devices. An example is the MiniGBIC transceiver that is capable to perform long-haul transmission with minimal signal loss. The MiniGBIC transceiver is designed to provide gigabit capability for Fiber Channel and other protocols that use the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) physical layer. Thus, such devices can be used in synchronous optical network (SONET), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Internet protocol (IP), or other types of high-speed systems.
GBIC devices are generally removable serial transceiver devices. They are “hot pluggable” in that they can be easily removed or inserted from the chassis or host system, so as to change the type of interface, to upgrade with a new device, to replace broken devices, and so forth.
Because of the hot pluggable nature of these devices (e.g., constantly repeating insertion and removal), existing systems have difficulty detecting which devices are active or inactive, or which devices have been inserted and removed. In cases of failure or other malfunctions, the GBIC specification does not address file or data recovery.
Moreover, different manufacturers produce different models of high-speed interface converter devices, each having different requirements and performance parameters. For example, manufacturers produce either or both regular GBICs and MiniGBICs, as well as different types of MiniGBICs themselves (e.g., MiniGBICs for 1000 BASE-T, 1000 BASE-CX, 1000 BASE-LX, 1000 BASE-SX, and so on). A host system (such as a switch or router) can contain many different GBICs or MiniGBICs. Detection and identification of these devices (and their data), so as to properly allocate memory and to meet their operating requirements thus become important.